Carlos Alcaraz wins Cincinnati Open title after Jannik Sinner retires with illness

Carlos Alcaraz is the 2025 Cincinnati Open men’s singles champion after world No. 1 Jannik Sinner was forced to retire in the final on Monday due to injury. Alcaraz led 5-0 when Sinner called the trainer and was unable to continue.

Sinner, the defending champion, came into the match wearing a sleeve on his right arm and quickly fell behind by three breaks. Struggling to hit both his serve and his forehand, he retired after dropping his serve for the third time, 5-0 (ret).

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Alcaraz, the 2023 finalist who lost a thriller to Novak Djokovic after holding championship point, signed the camera lens with a simple message: “Sorry Jannik!”

“I’m super, super sorry to disappoint you guys,” Sinner told the crowd during the trophy ceremony. “(Since) yesterday I didn’t feel great. I thought that I would improve during the night, but it came up worse. I tried to come out, trying to make it even in a small match, but I couldn’t handle more.

“I know that some of you on Monday maybe had to work, maybe had to do something else, so I’m really, really sorry.”

The matchup had promised another chapter in one of tennis’ fastest-growing rivalries. Alcaraz and Sinner have already split two Grand Slam finals this season—Alcaraz triumphing at Roland Garros before Sinner struck back at Wimbledon. With Monday’s abbreviated result, Alcaraz extends his lead in their head-to-head to 9-5 overall (6-2 in hard-court matches).

The Spaniard also extended his ATP Masters 1000 winning streak to 17 matches, adding Cincinnati to his titles this season in Monte Carlo and Rome. At 22, he becomes the youngest champion in Cincinnati since Andy Murray in 2008, and the third Spaniard to lift the trophy after Carlos Moya (2002) and Rafael Nadal (2013).

“This is not the way I want to win matches and to win trophies,” Alcaraz acknowledged during the ceremony. “I just got to say sorry and I can understand how you feel right now… As I said many, many times, you’re truly a champion and I’m sure from this situation you’re going to come back better and stronger. You always do.”

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Sinner, who entered the final on a 26-match hard-court winning streak dating back to last fall, had been chasing his fifth Masters 1000 crown and first since Shanghai in 2024.

Next up: the US Open, where Alcaraz will play mixed with Emma Raducanu and Sinner is set to team with Katerina Siniakova. The event kicks off on Tuesday in New York City.